Kansas State University - Royal Purple Yearbook (Manhattan, KS)

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Before an afternoon practice, Post collects her batons, which were taped for a better grip. Practicing this much definitely keeps you busy, Post said. It helps you with time management and keeping up with all ot your other stuff. Christopher Hanewiiickt ' l by Alex Peal thetWirtwotid Student twirlers devote most of their time to practice and preparation for games, and, on weekends, when most students are relaxing, they travel throughout the region for competitions. Sleep, class, twirl, eat, twirl, repeat. It was the life of a K-State twirler. Katie Goodwin, junior in communication sciences and disorders, and Belinda Post, freshman in theater, were K-State ' s two baton twirlers. Goodwin, the feature twirler, had been twirling for 17 years. She became interested when she was 4 years old and saw her older sister twirling, she said. She was so involved with baton twirling that by age 5 she was competing. She has contended at state, regional and national levels. I ' ve placed within the top 10 for every competition and I ' ve even won a few titles, Goodwin said, tossing her baton several feet into the air before gracefully swiping it on its circling downfall. However, 2006 was Goodwin ' s last year competing and twirling for K-State. I was a wildcat twirler for my first two years and I ' ve been the feature twirler the last two years, she said. I just feel like it ' s time to move on. As a feature twirler, Goodwin said she also was a section leader, she attended meetings, set times for extra practices and helped choreograph routines. Besides twirling at K-State football games, she said she also performed at a couple of basketball games and pep rallies each year. Instead of taking a break from twirling on weekends, Goodwin traveled throughout the state and region to compete. When we ' re not in football season, we compete, she said. Even during football season, the girls often competed on weekends. Some weekends they had two competitions or performances in addition to a game appearance. continued on 11 8

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Mv Own Game The K-State v. Nebraska football game on Saturday Oct. 1 4 was also known as Chaz Clark Game Day. Clark won the honor when she received the most votes on Alltel ' s website. Clark won many other prizes Including a KSU jersey, her own private skybox and a memorabilia signed by Coach Ron Prince. Page 49 Biq Red Oilr The 1st Infantry Division (Big Red One) returned to Ft. Riley in August. More than 14,000 soldiers and their families were expected to arrive in the Manhattan community over the next five years. The Big Red One was stationed in Germany for 1 1 years prior to its return to Ft. Riley. Page 60 . .% ¥ : It was different for all of us. With more than 23,000 students from all 50 states and more than 90 countries, any one student ' s perception of life at K-State could be vastly different from another student ' s. To one person, it meant opportunities to learn about different cultures and explore issues of race through performances like N gger, Wetb ck, Ch nk. To another, student life was finding a favorite Aggieville bar and dreaming up creative ways to date on a budget. To still another, it meant the bright lights of football games and staring up at thousands of fans cheering for a perfectly executed baton-throwing halftime performance. Life was something different to everyone, but it did guarantee one thing to all: how we chose to involve ourselves in it inevitably affected our states of being. Our experiences altered our opinions, interests, personalities and perceptions of the world. Our environments made us question who we were and who we wanted to become. Though life at K-State was always evolving, always growing, what was important was how we chose to involve ourselves in those changes, how we adapted. Our involvement, whether we wanted it to or not, would forever change us as individuals. And those personal changes were the most important of all. After all, it was our collective states of being — the combination of each student ' s relationship with his or her environment — that made this university K-State.

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Tossing her batons into rreshmiiii in tliealcr, practices lUiring llic week. Wc practice for 11-12 lioiirs eacli week, Post said. Katie Cioodwin. junior in communication sciences and disorders, and Post practiced Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays before gaines. Christopher Hiuu ' winckvl